The Beggar Boy (The Young Pilgrim)

Art historians long identified the subject of this painting as a beggar boy; however, it is now believed to portray the artist’s oldest child, Giacomo (the Italian form of James), in the costume of a pilgrim bound for Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where the apostle James reputedly settled. Carrying a loaf of bread and a rosary, Giacomo sports the hat and staff of a Santiago pilgrim. The boy would have been 13 years old in 1738, when this work was likely painted. It therefore probably shows him setting out on the pilgrimage of life, under the protection of his patron saint.